CHIBI5 Accepting What's Right
by Yonk
Summary: For over a year, Yonk has been the caring 'Tousan of young Trunks and Goten. Torn between his love for the boys and his love for upholding what is right, he fights to make the right decision. Even if that decision means giving up his sons forever.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own DBZ, unfortunately. Oh yeah, don't sue me. If I made money off of these, I would write a lot more!   
   
**Accepting What's Right**

Three days it had been, three days since he had almost lost his sons again to the cold hand of fate. Yonk wasn't yet clear whether or not he even deserved to have ever been in charge of keeping young Trunks and Goten safe, but his decision mattered not on what he deserved. He was trying to watch some boring television show, trying to forget about it, trying to convince himself that it would be alright if things stayed just as they were. But he had heard the whole story from the boys, he knew that a monster far worse than...Buu-Buu was it?...would soon arrive and he worried constantly over their safety for when it did. He had originally planned to do it the next day, after they were rested. Instead he had suffered through two extra days and finally decided it must be done, he could put it off no longer.

He shut of the TV and walked slowly toward the other side of his house, hoping the right words would come when he needed them. There was a pause and Yonk took a deep breath, he realized that what he had to say might hurt his sons more than ever, but his mind was made up. He walked to the base of the stairs that led up to their room and he steeled himself once again. _It's now or never, all good things must come to an end,_ he thought. "Trunks, Goten, come down here. We need to talk!" Yonk called up the stairs. Trunks voice came immediately from above: "Hai 'Tousan, I'll be right there." At once the chibi complied and came bounding down the stairs, purple hair bouncing. Yonk noticed that his younger brother was missing, a rare event indeed considering how close they usually were. "Where's Goten?" he asked. Trunks looked confused and his brow furrowed in thought, eventually coming up with the answer. "Still in the bathroom, I think...," he said. "Nani? He went in an hour ago...," Yonk responded. Without another word Yonk walked up to the hall bathroom and knocked gently on the door. "Goten? You there?" he asked. Only silence greeted him. Feeling worried, Yonk opened the door a crack and peered in. "Goten?!" he said, seeing his younger son sitting on the toilet with his Gi bottom around his knees, fast asleep. Yonk sweatdropped, a thin smile curling on his hard-set face, and he closed the door again.

Deciding to start with Trunks then, Yonk walked back down the stairs and found Trunks munching on some cookies. "Is he in there?" Trunks asked through a mouthful of crumbs. Yonk placed a gentle hand on his older son's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes," he said, "but we need to talk; he'll be fine for a few minutes." He gently ushered Trunks down into the house's musty old basement. Trunks looked around carefully, knowing that before today he had never seen the inside of the dark room. Neither he nor Goten were ever allowed to go down there. Trunks was a mischievous child by nature, but he knew better than to defy his Otousan. Yonk carefully led the chibi down the stairs and switched on a light, revealing shelves upon shelves of camcorder tapes and a small TV with an attached VCR. Trunks felt obliged to sit and scooted onto the ancient couch that sat opposite the TV. Meanwhile, Yonk ran his finger from one end of the shelf to the other, searching for one, stopping when he found the precise tape. "I took all these myself, you know." Yonk said indicating the lot. Trunks' eyes widened as he took in all the tapes, there must have been a few hundred in all. Yonk's fingers wrapped around the right tape and a sharp eye would notice that it was not dusty like the others, for it had been watched recently. The faded title on a sticker read: "The Final Atonement" in Yonk's recognizable scrawl. He placed the video in the VCR and hit play while turning on the TV. Trunks looked up worried at his 'Tousan, who seemed to be acting uncharacteristically strange. Yonk sat down next to Trunks and wrapped an arm around the small boy, who took comfort in the embrace. There was a sudden burst of static and a loud crackle, Trunks flinched a bit, already on edge, and Yonk pulled his son closer. "Watch carefully," he said. He still wasn't sure if this would work, but he hoped it would help his older son see the truth, it was worth a try. 

The static cleared and a gust of wind shook the camera the picture showing )v(ajin/egita looking beat up. ")v(ajin/egita-san?" Yonk heard Trunks whisper. The picture shifted to some rubble on the horizon and then back to )v(ajin/egita where it zoomed in on him. Trunks looked shocked at seeing his own beaming face and Goten's come on the screen. Trunks was confused before, but now he had no idea what was going on. "Nani?" Trunks said. "I don't remember any of this." Yonk paused the tape and looked his son in the eyes, placing a hand on each shoulder. "Trunks," he started, "I never told you how I adopted you, did I?" Trunks shook his head softly, no. Yonk continued: "This tape shows the reason why. After your father died and Goten's father went back to heaven-" Trunks interrupted saying: "But I thought you're our father, aren't you?" "Yes, but I mean your biological fathers. Do you know what that means Trunks?" Yonk asked. Trunks was still a child, but knew a lot of things for his age. His eyes began to tear up as he realized his 'Tousan really wasn't. "Ha-ha-hai," he stuttered, barely getting out the words. Yonk sighed and started his small speech: "After Vegita and Goku died I took it upon myself to take care of you because I couldn't stand to see either of you in any danger. And after a time, for some reason I don't even understand now, you both forget completely about that day. Seeing your own fathers die, fighting such an evil force, seeing the world destroyed, and dying yourselves was too painful, and your minds destroyed the memory. So when your fathers came back...I took them to court and sued them for you two. And after I won the case, you never knew that I wasn't your real father. I think it's time that you knew the truth, now watch." Hoping that his message would become clearer, Yonk pressed play and beckoned Trunks to keep watching.

**. . .**

The small speakers on the TV kept spitting out the words, almost illegible on the tape: "Trunks, Bulma. I'm doing this for you. And even for you Kakarotto! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 The light from Vegita's Ki filled the tiny, poorly lit basement with a bright glow. The picture suddenly shook and then abruptly stopped. Yonk took out the tape and put it back into its place on the shelf. The silence in the room was almost tangible. Yonk's voice came through: "After that moment I took off, leaving Vegita to his destiny." Trunks was looking down toward his feet, and a few tears found their way to the floor. His normally cheerful face contorted with emotions beyond what he should have to face. "I get it now, he, he gave his life...for me," Trunks said softly. He stood up, absently wiping his eyes and trudged away from the TV. At such tough times like these, The Chibis had always run to Yonk for comfort and safety in his arms. But Yonk was not the least bit surprised when Trunks passed him right by and began up the stairs. "Trunks," Yonk said. "Could you wake Goten up and ask him to come down here?" Trunks looked back, one hand already on the door and nodded slowly. Yonk could sense the hurt in his quivering blue eyes and a pain struck right into the depths of his heart. Yonk listened as the door to the bathroom opened and he heard Goten's confused voice. A few seconds later he heard a door shut, the clattering of the tin plate the Yonk knew read 'Chibis' Room' told him which one. Feeling agony at what he was doing, Yonk cleared his mind and began removing a few select tapes from the shelf in preparation of telling Goten.

 A few days later, a gavel sounded in a courtroom in the middle of town. )v(ajin/egita had joined up with Goku for the thousandth appeal to the courts' decision that had taken their sons away from them. The drawl of a judge sounded over the still room: "So, you Son Goku and you )v(ajin/egita, wish to challenge Yonk's claim to Chibi Trunks, age 8 and Chibi Goten, age 7?" Goku stood up briefly saying: "Yes. That's right." )v(ajin/egita just sat there, knowing this was a case that they could never, would never win. The judge continued: "And you, Yonk, wish to challenge this claim of theirs, so we can-" Yonk cut off the judge: "No. I do not." A few gasps rose up from a few people; the judge looked as if she might fall off her chair. "What?" she said. Yonk stood up, his chair scraping across the floor. "In light of recent events, I have decided to withdraw all my claims to Chibi Trunks and Goten for reason that I believe I have made the wrong choice in taking them from their home and their proper parents and I wish them to be where they should." The assembled members were shocked at this sudden change of events. The Judge looked confused, Goku and )v(ajin/egita as well as their wives in the back of the courtroom all looked on carefully, hardly believing their ears. Yonk turned toward them saying: "I'm sorry for everything I have done to you; you can have your children back. Don't worry, I have told them everything that they need to know. They are ready to come back to you." The courtroom door opens and an uncertain Trunks and Goten peek in. "Come on in," Yonk says. The Chibis walk in and approach the group with uncertainty. Goku, Gohan, Chi-Chi, and Bulma are noticeably crying and a few tears even fall down )v(ajin/egita's face. The Chibis, finally realizing the truth, run up and embrace their newfound parents.

 Not wanting to disturb the scene, Yonk starts to walk out and a hand falls on his shoulder. Yonk looked up with a: "Huh?" into the face of Gohan. "That was a brave thing you did," said the older Son. "It takes a lot of courage to push away such love as yours to enforce what you know is right." "I guess I should be happy for you...," Yonk said, still feeling guilty. Gohan kept going saying: "That's your choice, you are mature beyond your years for what you have done today and I hope you know that." Yonk looked up a bit and said: "Right, thank you, take good care of them for me Gohan. You won't let me down, I know." Gohan smiled: "Don't worry; I'm sure you have taught them to take care of themselves." A smile that seemed forced crept through Yonk's facade. "Yeah, and they can go SSJ2 now, watch out," he said. "Uhhh...right!" Gohan said, with a typical Son grin. A single tear suddenly fell to the floor and the sound of its splash was clear to the powerful hearing of all the Saiya-jin. They all looked up in amazement as the most powerful warrior in the universe and the last of the mighty Kalltorraiya-jin fell to his own shattered heart. Through his tears Yonk's voice cracked as he said: "Tell Trunks and Goten that I love them and will never forget them." And before anyone can respond Yonk streaked into the sky through an open window and takes off toward home, a home without his sons for the first time

_I finally figured it out. I remember now standing there, standing there knowing that I had the power to destroy Majin Buu but knowing I could do nothing. I told myself that I could not, would not; interfere with the workings of their lives in any way if it was not absolutely necessary. I watched as )v(ajin/egita fought him even though he was way outclassed and I stood as he knocked out his son to save his life and did the same to Goten. When Piccolo and Krillen took off with the Chibis, I stayed behind and watched as he killed himself in an effort to destroy Buu and to save his family. After that tragic day I suppose I, as well as the boys, forgot what had happened and I contented myself with just trying to be a good father to them. But it finally hit me that it just would never be the same, as much as I cared for them, they weren't my own, and I am not capable of taking care of them. In fact they had almost died right in front of me, three times. I almost let them die on Christmas Eve for Kami's sake. I thought I was just unlucky, I tried everything I could to just forget it, tried to convince myself that I was a good father despite everything that had happened. _

_That is when I found myself in my basement, looking through year-old tapes gathering dust and found one that I thought would make me happy. It was one of the tapes of Trunks and Goten fighting in the Junior Division of the Tenkaichi Budokai. Well it turns out the tape was mis-labeled, it was actually a tape that I had taken from when )v(ajin/egita had sacrificed himself; by the time I realized what I was watching I couldn't stop it. As I watched all the buried memories came flooding back to me as well as all the guilt. I just couldn't stand it anymore; I couldn't take the pain of thinking what I had done to their families. As I tucked them in that night I looked at their peaceful faces in their matching beds, side by side, and could barely say goodnight. I realized I had been fooling myself, I had been telling myself that what I was doing was right because I was keeping them together. Now and only now do I see they don't have to be in the same room or even in the same house, they have always found a way to be together. Best friends are like that, they will find a way to find each other. I know that AngelGoten will still be able to see them whenever she flies over to visit. But I can't, even though there is nothing legal stopping me. Nothing stopping me but myself. I don't think I can bear to see them again, not after that. I hope they will get along ok without me, but once again I fool myself, they don't need me and probably have more fun back at home where they belong, with their true families. _

_They have only been gone less than a few hours, and already I miss them. The warmth of their small bodies, the innocent sparkle in their eyes-so full of hope and promise for the future, their soft chibi hair, the feel of their tails wrapping affectionately around my own, their wonderful smiles, the sound of their beating hearts as I hold them close after a bad dream. Most of all I miss the laughter echoing from upstairs, usually before something gets broken. But they are not my sons, and they never were. If only love really could find a way. Trunks, Goten, I am sorry that I tore your families apart. I hope I have done enough to mend things and I promise I will love you two, for always. _

**End**


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